Darling in Zootopia
by StuntedVegetation
Summary: Zootopia was a gleaming paradise until they dug too deep into the earth harnessing the power of magma. The klaxosaurs came they used nighthowler gas and fluid as its weapons. It defied all logic but they could only be killed by predators. A paradise was lost, a select few are raised in plantations to fight the menace for the benefit of mammalkind.


**Author's note: I combined the most messed up anime in existence with Zootopia. This is the first crossover I attempted to write.**

 **Chapter 1: Don't Know When to Quit**

* * *

Judy was told that she was nearly eaten by a fox when she was young. They saved her, they said. This didn't make the next moment any easier. She hadn't given up on her assigned partner yet despite the previous times she was injured.

"Thank you," said Gideon. "Thank you for not giving up on me."

"I can't give up on you, you're my friend," Judy said.

They entered the chamber ready to undertake the test once more. The chamber would be flooded with nighthowler gas. Judy and Gideon were supposed to be unscathed when the effects wear off. Her senses became a blur as the gas affected her. She felt pain and an urge to fight. It was just like last time and the time before that.

"Both of you fail," the rabbit declared.

"No! Let me try again! Please, I just need another chance," Judy said despite her recent wounds.

Gideon was unconscious from the shocks he received. Another flirt with death.

"This is a waste of resources. You and Gideon are unfit to be partners."

"No, we can make it work," Judy said.

"Don't worry, he's just going to be living outside of the plantation. Away from this," the rabbit said.

She knew it was a lie. Gideon would be disposed of because of her own lack of ability to cope. Their only purpose was to kill klaxosaurs that expelled nighthowler gas and fluid whenever they died. Only predators could harm klaxosaurs for some strange reason. Prey cannot, their races were unified before, prey were there to bring the predators back to sanity after each fight. That's how this all started at least.

"Can I say goodbye before he leaves?" Judy asked. She knew Gideon was going to die and there was nothing she could do to prevent it. She couldn't let on that she knew the truth.

"I'll allow a going-away party," the rabbit replied.

She was thankful that she could say goodbye to Gideon. She waited for a few hours until Gideon was conscious once more from being shocked. "How are you feeling?" she asked. He was still hooked up to various medical equipment.

"Weak, dizzy. We failed again, didn't we? I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?" Gideon asked.

"Not that badly," Judy said. She was still wrapped in bandages on parts of her body. "They won't let us try again."

"It'll be okay," Gideon said.

He didn't know the truth of what was to happen. Her family was kind enough to tell her that before she came living here to be raised for a single purpose. "No, it won't."

"They always said the animals who failed ended up living in a better place," Gideon said. "I just won't see any of you ever again."

He believed all of those lies. He would be disposed of, she knew that much. She herself was a special case thus given some more leeway. "It won't be the same, Gideon."

"We have a party to attend, you'll be there, won't you?"

"Of course." Judy smiled. She knew what was going to happen, but she couldn't find the courage, to tell the truth. It wasn't like she could prevent what was going to happen to him. "I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"It's not your fault," Gideon said.

"But it is, you know how my history is different from the others. If only I was here sooner," Judy said.

"But you still tried even after you got hurt multiple times."

She left Gideon to recuperate.

Their living conditions were designed to simulate a normal life. Their plantation had shops, other animals they could interact with. She knew it was pointless, everyone except for their squad and a few overseers was a robot. Normal animals couldn't be bothered to interact with ones trained to cope with nighthowlers from such an early age.

She knew the entire existence was a lie. Her family told her that much before they sent her here. It didn't matter how the robots reacted when she paid no mind to their desires. She went shopping for a gift for Gideon. He was going to die, but she would act as if he was going away.

She knew that he would die, but not how, they couldn't dispose of him in cold-blood, could they? She never saw the bodies of others that left their squad when they failed. Everyone else genuinely believed that their teammates went to a better place instead of being trained to fight.

A carrot pen caught her eye. It would be the perfect gift for Gideon. Her family had given her a carrot pen to record her thoughts forever before sending her away. She treasured such an item, she never thought she'd see something like it again.

"I would like this," she said. She brought the carrot pen to the counter.

The robotic hare replied, "That'll be fifteen dollars."

It was just a formality. Money had no value here. Everything was here just for them. The robot acted normal as a cashier would and seemed normal to everyone else that lived here. No one but the higherups knew.

They were pawns to be used and discarded, that was their purpose. They believed they were saving mammal-kind from a menace. None of them would reach adulthood. Even when living in practically quarantine, they were deemed too dangerous to be left alive past a certain age.

She went to the house she shared with the rest of their team. Every prey had a predator partner they were assigned to bond with.

"Aww, it sucks that it didn't work out. It's been nice knowing you, Gideon," Sharla the sheep said.

Gideon was already there chatting with their team. "Judy, what took you so long?"

"I was shopping," she said. "You are leaving tomorrow after all." She couldn't hold back a tear even though she wasn't brave enough to tell the truth. She rubbed her cheek the first place Gideon clawed her during a failed session. She was desperate to change the subject. "How are you and Catmull?" she asked Sharla.

"We tickled each other during the last session," Bobby Catmull said. The cheetah laughed as he recounted their experience. "You know she's really ticklish under all that wool. I can't wait until we actually fight."

"You want to fight?" Judy asked.

"That's what we're all training for," Sharla said.

They didn't know the truth and she never told them. They were raised inside the system, she was sentenced to be here with knowledge of what would happen mostly. It was her family's way of caring before caving into the bureaucrats' demands.

Judy got bored of the depressing reminders of what was to come. They still had time before the feast anyway. She took a walk towards a nearby lake to clear her thoughts. She knew Gideon was going to die and she couldn't do anything to prevent it. She also lacked the courage to shatter everyone's beliefs.

She glanced at the fake sky and fake lake, but she threw a pebble at the lake regardless trying to convince herself that this was all real. It sounded real, it would be real if she didn't have all her knowledge. She threw another until she heard a loud growl behind her scaring her off her footing as she fell into the lake.

A fox laughed at her misfortune. "I didn't realize this would be so easy."

Judy gave the fox a look that could kill as she climbed out of the lake with all her clothes wet.

"Name's Nick by the way."

"I'll be sure to complain that the robots malfunctioned. You're not supposed to be here," Judy said. She advanced towards the fox. It was just a robot that malfunctioned. She could try some programming.

"Robot?" the fox was confused. "Get off crazy rabbit. You're going to tear my fur off."

"Off switch, where's the off switch?" She kept looking for it on the back of Nick's neck. Disappointed, she used her paws to rip off his shirt. "Maybe it's on the chest."

"Your paws feel nice."

"I'm looking for the off button. Where is it?"

"You ran off again?" a doe said. "You're supposed to be my partner."

"Does it matter? You don't even know what will happen to you," Nick said.

"Why don't you try to get to know me? So we can work better together."

"Because you are my partner."

"I just don't understand you!"

"Good, it makes it easier that way."

A rabbit wearing a commanding uniform shouted at them, "Stop harassing the locals, Nick, and you Code Twenty should keep a better eye on him."

"Don't you think I've been trying?" she fumed.

"So he's not a robot. What's he doing here?" Judy said.

"Added protection for when your squad first tests their hybrid units," the commander replied.

"I'll get you back for this, Nick," Judy said.

"We won't be staying here so you won't," Nick replied.

Judy was in a foul mood as she returned to their house. That was the first real mammal apart from their detachment that she ever saw. Her clothing was still dripping wet. She didn't realize that the feast was already underway and she didn't have a moment to change.

They prepared a lavish feast for Gideon's going away party. All ten of them were there for the occasion. Gideon ate rabbit because he was a fox. It was discovered that feeding predators actual prey increased the odds of survival. Prey that lived with them were used to this fact. They were trained to bond with each other to defend mammal kind as a whole, sacrifices had to be made. The prey that lived with them didn't care that their predator partners ate their kin. It was simply the way of life.

Gideon took a bite of the cooked rabbit. "I guess this is it."

Judy hastily ran up the stairs to retrieve her gift. She didn't even change out of her wet clothing.

"I have a gift for you," she said. She gave him the carrot pen she bought earlier. "I didn't imagine I'd find one here. You can use it to record messages." She smiled as tears fell down her cheeks since she knew more about the system than her squad.

"Are you okay, princess?" Jack Savage said. "You didn't even change out of your wet clothing."

"Lay off her, Jack, this is supposed to be serious," Skye said.

"Don't be sad, I'm going to a better place. I just don't be able to see any of you ever again," Gideon said. He cried because he would miss them.

Judy hastily ran to her room for a change of clothing.

"This mutton tastes so good. They know how to cook it to perfection!" Bobby said.

"Is food all you think about?" Sharla asked. She was eating her plate of grass.

"You hurt me. I can enjoy many things."

Travis the weasel took a bite off a rabbit's leg. "I wish they added more salt."

"And so our family still hadn't changed the system yet," Juvia Hopps said. "That's all you keep droning on about, Judy. How much longer until we become civilized? It's unnatural watching predators eat prey."

"I don't like it either, but it keeps you alive," Travis said. "We don't get to choose what we eat anyway. They plan it for us."

"Judy's lucky she got to spend five years with our family before coming here. We've been together for fifteen years now and we've still yet to actually fight. We haven't even seen the enemy. We just know it exists and it's our job to fight them. They hadn't given us access to real weapons yet either."

"Enough of this, I want to know why you were all wet earlier," Skye said hoping to change the topic.

"I was walking to the lake to clear my thoughts, but this red fox with a black-tail tip scared me and I fell in the lake," Judy said.

"Oh? Tell me more," Skye replied.

The rabbit that oversaw their final test arrived during Judy's elaborate description of the fox she encountered. The rabbit was clearly afraid. "There's been a change of plans. Gideon, you have to leave now."

"Gladly," Gideon said. Not willing to listen to any more of this.

"Oh, Gideon's already being replaced, how sad," Skye said. "I wonder if this fox will be good for me."

"I'm faster than you, and I can keep up with you," Jack Savage said as he munched on a rabbit leg. He justified it because he was a hare and hares weren't rabbits. "Gideon already turned you down."

"It doesn't mean this fox will, and if there's no one to compete with you, how will you keep in shape?"

"Do you want to race right now?"

"You're on."

They raced around the feasting area.

"And I hate him!" Judy yelled finishing her grandiose tale.

"But you have to love him, Gideon already left. I didn't realize you'd replace him so soon," Skye said with a smirk. She didn't know that they were practically living in quarantine.

"What? Oh no!" Judy ran off hoping that she could find Gideon before it was too late. She ran faster than she ever had past everything until she reached Gideon. She was nearly out of breath. "Wait!"

Gideon looked at her with annoyance and fury in his eyes. "What is it?"

She could hear the venom in his voice. "I want you to have this." She gave him her original carrot pen that was crafted to be nearly indestructible.

"Are you sure?" Gideon said. "You know how important it is to you."

Gideon's words and tone seemed to be kinder and gentler now. "Yes, but can you stay until tomorrow?"

The rabbit watching the heartfelt exchange remained silent. "Sorry, he cannot, there's a been a change of plans."

"No! Why?" Judy said nearly hysterical.

"It's okay, I'll think about you in my thoughts," Gideon said as he hugged Judy.

"You don't understand," Judy said contemplating if she should tell him what she really knew.

"Then explain it," Gideon said.

"I'm sorry, I can't. This is a goodbye." The explanation would shatter Gideon's final moments.

"I'll think of you," Gideon said as he continued onwards towards his fate.

* * *

Nick's commanding officer was impatient since that rabbit was late in retrieving Gideon. "You're late," he said. This was an area deep underground even though the plantation was mostly above ground.

"He's here you know," the rabbit replied.

"You know what that means."

"I'm sorry! Please don't."

"You failed."

"So, where's the transport?" Gideon asked, confused. He expected to fly out of here.

"Just go wait in that room while I finish preparing things," the commanding officer said.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Nick arrived with his commanding officer at the house. His officer said, "It's time to show you, your hybrid units."

"So I did see you again," Judy said. "You haven't left yet."

"I guess your partner didn't like you, he ran away," Nick said. "It looks like you're alone."

Judy didn't even dignify that with a response.

The group followed eagerly.

Gareth the sheep said, "Oh wow, that'll be exciting."

"You're right it will," his wolf partner said. "Soon we get to put our skills in practice."

"Wow, this is different. For once they aren't all the same," Nick said.

The machines were crafted in the forms of hybrids between the two respective races. The prey would focus on movement while the predators used their weapons crafted from magma harvested deep within the earth's core.

"All of you get in and try to move with these things," the officer commanded. A roar could be heard within the distance. "Quick, they're attacking."

All Judy could do was watch. She had no partner, but she found it equally strange that there wasn't a machine prepared for her. She watched her squad enter the machines trying to pilot. They fumbled around hilariously as they tried to walk without much success.

"Let's buy them some time, shall we? Partner?" Nick said to Code Twenty.

"We didn't even practice! How do I even use these machines?" she replied.

"Don't worry, you're a natural. It'll be okay."

"This is going to get us both killed!" His partner was frightened by what she had to do. She hadn't even entered the contraption yet.

"That's okay with me," Nick said all too serious.

"When this is over, we'll talk, for once!" The angry doe followed him inside.

Judy watched as that machine turned on. To her disappointment, it too walked around haphazardly without any clue how to navigate. She was frightened that the machine fell on it's back trying to walk nearly crushing her in the process. She had to get to a safe distance. A much safer distance as she watched them trying to use these machines.

"Come with me," the commanding officer said.

She followed that rabbit. She watched as the hybrid charged against the two enemies. The enemies seemed like menacing biological machines to her. It was the first time she ever saw a klaxosaur with her own eyes. They walked on four legs and had a distinct animal-like appearance. She saw that one seemed to be a twisted version of a rabbit and the other, a fox. Their entire existence baffled her since only predators could harm them or at least that's what she knew. That was the entire reason for having hybrid machines, a symbol of the unity between predators and prey so long ago.

She watched as Nick focused on one klaxosaur and to her horror, another attacked him from behind.

"What happens if they fail?" Judy asked.

"We run away," the officer said.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"Of course. Don't worry about all these animals. They'll be safe." That heartless officer didn't know the hidden mechanics of these places. She mused. There were maybe only fifteen real animals here. "What about my friends?"

"They'll die, and you can find new ones."

"What?" She was outraged by how casually that officer said that.

"Oh look, it seems my charge isn't as promising as I expected." The rabbit laughed as Nick's machine was battered around. His joy quickly turned to terror as it fell towards them. The cockpit opened out came a lifeless rabbit with a bleeding Nick. "Get back in there and fight."

"You know these machines can't be operated alone," Judy said. "He needs help!"

"I don't care! Get back in there and fight!" the officer shouted. "Or else." He brandished his remote.

She noticed the fox was collared, but she didn't know when. He didn't wear one when he was going inside the machine.

The fox finally said a word, "It hurts."

"Get back in there and fight," the officer shouted once more.

The fox wasn't really in a condition to fight especially not alone. The officer pressed the remote and the fox gave a feral scream, but still didn't move.

"Stop," Judy said, but the officer ignored her. Another scream came again from Nick.

She contemplated if she should try to overpower the armed officer, but that might not work and her friends still needed her help. She decided that she would try to operate the machine alone if needed with an injured fox by her side. That would be the best chance she had to save her friends and the fox. They still had unfinished business.

She entered the hybrid machine, shaped as an offspring between a fox and a rabbit. She had no idea how to operate it while Nick complained about the pain he was in.

* * *

Judy roused from her haze finding Nick touching her over and over. "You're alive," he said without any sarcasm in his voice. "You're actually alive! You don't seem to be bleeding." He sniffed her and touched her further. She didn't know what happened, but she knew it was different from the past. She didn't get hurt this time.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Judy said. They had somehow managed to operate the machine and defeat the klaxosaurs. "So, am I your partner now? Or are you going to run away too?" She remembered the remark he made earlier.

She remembered some parts of the battle. The legends were correct to her dismay. Prey cannot harm klaxosaurs, it had to be predators. She used the machine's weapon systems to no avail. Nick had to be the one to do the exact same actions. It confounded her and made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

"You can't be my partner," Nick said. Judy seemed dismayed at that. He was still bleeding from the excursion. "You're my darling."

As they opted to operate the machine again. Judy saw her carrot pen among the rubble.

* * *

 **Author's note: Please review.**


End file.
